Proof Of Concept #3: AI As A Narrative Sword
📝 Policy Brief
Title:
The Compassionate IND Was Robert Randall’s Payoff. Ours Is the Department of Veterans Affairs.
Prepared By:
Ricardo André Pereyda San Nicolás
Co-Founder, International Veterans Leadership Committee (IVLC)
Date:
August 2025
Executive Summary
In 1976, Robert Randall became the first legal cannabis patient in U.S. history under the federal Compassionate Investigational New Drug (IND) program—a program born not out of mercy, but out of litigation. The government didn’t offer relief; it was compelled by court order. Randall’s victory was the product of judicial scrutiny and public pressure, not bureaucratic grace.
Today, thousands of veterans languish in pain, trauma, and bureaucratic limbo under the care of the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA)—a system that recognizes cannabis neither as medicine nor as a matter of medical autonomy, despite overwhelming evidence and historical precedent. This brief calls for the immediate reactivation of the federal IND program specifically through the VA and under the same constitutional and scientific standards applied in United States v. Randall.
The Randall case established medical necessity as a defense, compelled the federal government to provide cannabis through the FDA and NIDA, and exposed the lie that cannabis “has no accepted medical use.” That lie remains on Schedule I to this day—while veterans are dying waiting for institutional honesty.
Key Points
1. Robert Randall’s IND Was a Judicial Mandate, Not a Gift
The U.S. District Court ruled that denying Randall access to cannabis violated his constitutional rights under the doctrine of medical necessity.
The federal government, rather than appeal and risk a nationwide precedent, struck a deal: Randall would receive federally supplied cannabis under FDA protocol.
This created the Compassionate IND program, later extended to other patients—until it was shut down in 1992, amid a surge of applications from AIDS patients.
2. The VA Is the Logical and Legal Continuation of Randall’s Precedent
Veterans are the largest federally recognized patient population under exclusive federal care.
The Department of Veterans Affairs is already empowered to conduct and participate in clinical research, deliver palliative care, and manage complex comorbidities—including PTSD, chronic pain, and opioid dependence.
The VA is also subject to the same federal scheduling laws and, therefore, is responsible for reconciling care protocols with both constitutional rights and scientific evidence.
If the federal government could deliver cannabis through the FDA and NIDA in 1976, it can deliver it through the VA in 2025.
3. Veterans Meet—and Exceed—the Standard of Medical Necessity
More than 80% of veterans support medical cannabis access.
Clinical literature now supports cannabis use for PTSD, chronic pain, and as a harm-reduction alternative to opioids and benzodiazepines.
VA internal data and veteran testimony confirm what policymakers refuse to acknowledge: cannabis saves lives.
Policy Recommendations
🔹 1. Reactivate the Compassionate IND Program Through the VA
Use existing precedent from the Randall case to justify federal provision of cannabis under controlled investigational protocols.
Leverage archived FDA protocols (e.g., MARS IND files #1631 and #336) as immediate-use templates.
🔹 2. Mandate Recognition of Medical Necessity for Veterans
Establish VA-issued “Federal Patient Identifiers” for veterans with qualifying conditions.
Create a federal exemption pathway for veterans in legal medical cannabis states to receive uninterrupted care and support.
🔹 3. Launch the Office of Cannabis Therapeutics Within VA or HHS
Oversee cannabis-based treatments, research protocols, and veteran-provider education.
Provide ethical safeguards against pharmaceutical monopolization and research conflicts of interest.
Conclusion
Veterans are not asking for favors. We are demanding fidelity—to history, to evidence, and to the Constitution. The Compassionate IND was Robert Randall’s payoff after years of institutional denial. Our payoff is overdue.
And it doesn’t come in the form of platitudes or pilot studies.
It comes through the Department of Veterans Affairs.
The same government that rolled joints for Randall can grow gardens for veterans.
Anything less is not policy—it’s malpractice.
Appendix: Supporting Evidence
United States v. Randall, D.C. Superior Court, 1976.
FDA Master Files 1631 & 336 (AIDS/Glaucoma IND Protocols).
Institute of Medicine Report, 1999: “Marijuana and Medicine: Assessing the Science Base.”
VA Suicide Prevention Annual Reports.
Veterans Action Council, The Green Paper (2021).
Congressional testimonies from federal IND patients and physicians (1978–1992).
DEA Administrative Law Judge Francis L. Young ruling (1988): “Cannabis is one of the safest therapeutically active substances known to man.”
